I have been an internet user since 1987 and my work
as a research chemist involves the regular use of the
internet and the web as a vital source for information.
I am totally opposed to the RAND licensing proposal for the
non-royalty-free use of corporate patents in W3C standards.
I believe that this is contrary both to the spirit that created the
World Wide Web and the very concept of standards - which
to be effective must be open and free of any proprietary
constraints.
I support the following propoasl by Prof Attila Mate of CUNY:
"W3C should firmly insist on a policy of requiring that
the standards it endorses incorporate no patents or
other intellectual property unless the holder of
those patents or intellectual property agrees to license
it free of charge and without restrictions to any and all
for the purpose of creating and reading Web pages, and
for the purpose of creating software connected with
the creating, maintaining, reading, and displaying of
Web pages, whether these Web pages are placed on
the World Wide Web or they are placed on an internal
network."
Unless the RAND licensing proposal of the working draft
is dropped totally, the fragmentation of the web into free and
unfree, open and proprietary zones would result. The credibility
of the W3C would be destroyed. This situation would both
severely restrict the development of technology and be strongly
antithetical to the interests of the user community.
Bill Gunn
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada